Back in the day if one of my mom's friend's kids got chicken pox we were wisked over to their house to play with them. My older brother and I didn't get chicken pox until our younger brother got them despite many many exposures before that.

I agree with the previous post. Back in the day if chickenpox,measles,mumps etc came to town, parents exposed their kids for several reasons. 1. all kids could be sick at the same time, it was supposed to be a milder case, also their was a worry about teens getting pox and being sterile. I rememeber when schools had to close because so many kids were sick. Also polio was called "summer fever" and if it came around we couldnt go swimming and had to stay home. Times have sure changed.

I do wonder whether I did the right thing in giving my kids the chicken pox vaccine. I'm all for vaccines in general, but I've read studies that immunization can wear off over time, leaving them open for a more serious infection as adults. We were all sent to the house of the kids with chicken pox, too. It was usually a fun play date. I wouldn't go the prelicked lollipop route, though.

I do wonder whether I did the right thing in giving my kids the chicken pox vaccine. I'm all for vaccines in general, but I've read studies that immunization can wear off over time, leaving them open for a more serious infection as adults. We were all sent to the house of the kids with chicken pox, too. It was usually a fun play date. I wouldn't go the prelicked lollipop route, though.

The varicella vaccination for chickenpox did not exist during my early childhood years. I was afflicted with chickenpox at the age of three or four while attending preschool in the middle 1980s. I still have never been vaccinated for it.

Fast forward to 2009. I was 28 years old and had titers drawn per the requirement of the RN completion program that I was attending. I found it amazing that, some 25 years after I had contracted chickenpox, I still had immunity to varicella according to the results of my titer.

The varicella vaccination for chickenpox did not exist during my early childhood years. I was afflicted with chickenpox at the age of three or four while attending preschool in the middle 1980s. I still have never been vaccinated for it.

Fast forward to 2009. I was 28 years old and had titers drawn per the requirement of the RN completion program that I was attending. I found it amazing that, some 25 years after I had contracted chickenpox, I still had immunity to varicella according to the results of my titer.

I have a few years on you Commuter (well, if you were 4 in the middle 80's..I have QUITE a few years on you ) but anyway, I got chicken pox when I was 4. My school does not allow documented proof of having the disease so I had to have a titer drawn. Almost 40 years later, I still have immunity.

My oldest daughter had a mild bout of chicken pox (maybe she had a dozen pox) about a year before the vaccine was released. I knew since she only had a very mild case chances were good she would get it again, just not as bad as if she had never had it and then had a worse case exactly a year later. My little one had the vaccine in 2002 and in 2004 developed a vicious case of chicken pox (the peditrician who was a very new doctor had never even seen a child with chicken pox..haha) anyway, the poor baby was just miserable. It was so bad the docs were contemplating putting her in the hospital. It was around that time the CDC was recommending a booster varicella d/t seeing children with the vaccine contracting varicella. since she had had her original immunization and then the actual disease she didn't have to get the booster vaccine.

Second question, how is sending used lollipops and playing with sick kids so you can catch their disease better than going and getting a vaccine? I just don't understand the anti-vaccine movement. It's bad to get vaccinated, but it's okay to expose yourself to someone else's body fluids?